Tech companies are waking up to the ageing consumer in China.

Chinese seniors enjoy shopping with their smartphone

Ownership of smartphones among China’s ageing consumers (over 50 years) was half the share in America in 2016. Yet once on the internet, they spend big.

We’ve been saying this stuff for years yet it would seem that now China’s tech companies are waking up to this massive opportunity.

Consider;

In 2017 ageing consumers in China spent 2.3 times as much as the average user and their typical deposit in Yu’E Bao, an online cash-management service controlled by Alibaba, is 7,000 yuan compared with 4,000 yuan across all ages. 

Chinese seniors are expected to spend around $1 trillion on consumer goods in 2020. Imagine that!?

The number of elderly consumers on online shopping sites Taobao and Tmall has increased 1.6 times over the last three years and most (90 percent) of Chinese ageing consumers enjoy shopping with their smartphone.

Meanwhile, according to this article in the Economist, a survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Tencent, which owns WeChat, found that only 17% frequently paid for purchases with mobile phones; close to half had never done so.

Not surprisingly, Tech companies want to lure more of China’s 250m older consumers online. As the Economist article points out, unlike the young, whose fragmented attention is fought over by thousands of apps, retirees are up for grabs.

Consider;

In 2017 ageing consumers in China spent 2.3 times as much as the average user and their typical deposit in Yu’E Bao, an online cash-management service controlled by Alibaba, is 7,000 yuan compared with 4,000 yuan across all ages. 

Chinese seniors are expected to spend around $1 trillion on consumer goods in 2020. Imagine that!?

The number of elderly consumers on online shopping sites Taobao and Tmall has increased 1.6 times over the last three years and most (90 percent) of Chinese ageing consumers enjoy shopping with their smartphone.

Meanwhile, according to this article in the Economist, a survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Tencent, which owns WeChat, found that only 17% frequently paid for purchases with mobile phones; close to half had never done so.